Status Anxiety

Amanda Craig

This is the one policy that would make me vote Tory, even now, and the party's single biggest failure to address. As we all know, the closure of grammar schools has caused less social mobility, and the stultification of millions. The big bug-bear is the 11+, but why not have several entry-points - at 11, 13 and 16?

Neil

Amanda, under the old two tier system there always was the chance to move from sec. school to grammar at 13yrs.. The leaving age then was 15 and if a sec. school pupil stayed on for "A" levels then they moved to the Grammar school 6th form.

Fergus Pickering

Go on, mate. Move to Kent. You know it makes sense. The Grammar Schools take the top 25-30% so they'll take all your little kids even if they aren't the brightest lights on the tree. Whitstable! Nice place full of London types. Good pubs, seafood and good rail connections with Victoria. You know it makes sense

JJW

DC wanted to put some clear blue water between the Cameroons and old-school Tories. Even assuming that needed to be done, choosing to make selective education the defining factor was a silly mistake. Areas where they still have grammar schools, like Northern Ireland, send many more state school pupils to university - even with Labour's meddling to get more poor people going to university.

Rob Slack

So you can't afford to send your kids to the kind of school you wish for them to attend. I guess with 4 of them it would be expensive. So your grossly irresponsible behaviour, having more kids than you can afford to raise, means you will scrounge off the state.

Ian Pinches

Toby - forgive me, but this will probably resemble a rant - your article has touched a nerve!

As a parent currently home schooling my son I concur with your viewpoint - almost!

State Education in this country is in an apalling condition - it is little more than a post code lottery.

There are some very good schools out there. There are also a huge amount of 'average' schools with results regarded as being 'acceptable' if not 'good' if 40% of the children they 'educate' gain 5 GCSE's from them.

Remind yourseld of the quality of these GCSE's. Many people belive a GCSE A grade gained today is roughly the equilivant of a C grade 25 years ago. Controversial I know and many people will no doubt want to disagree.

With only 40% achieving 5 of these devalued GCSE's I call that a 60% failure rate. No wonder Britain is approaching third world education levels.

Look instead at IGSCE's - a much better qualification - exam based without coursework. My understanding is that state schools aren't allowed to use them. Ask yourself why!

Many schools and LEA's simply are not interested if you disagree with their methods and all too frequently cater only to the lowest common demoninator. The result becomes little more than crowd control and is far from any notion of education that I recognise.

My own experience of private schools is that some are completely focussed on league tables. If your child looks to jeopardise their position in those tables, they aren't interested in you. More than that, they 'enquire' as to whether your child might be more suited elsewhere. With that approach they are probably correct!

By the way, I have 4 children - and have direct experience of private day, prep and senior schools, state primary and secondary schools and state boarding schools - as well as home education.

I consider myself qualified to rant on the subject!

I have to say that there are good schools out there and that for 3 of my children a combination of state (day and boarding) and private day schools has worked very well.

For the fourth a combination of state and private schools has failed - completely.

If you are not happy with the education your child is receiving and the school isn't serious when you express concerns, don't waste time banging your head against a wall with them - vote is with your feet.

An increasing number of people are doing so and you will find you are not alone.

Precise figures are not easy to obtain but it is generally accepted that over 20,000 children are home educated in this country - many after being negelected in one way or another by schools, both state and private.

If you live in any reasonable size town in the UK there is probably around 20 or so children being home educated within a 10-15 minute drive from where you live.

Some of these home educating parents will be on the 'weird' side of what most people consider 'normal'. The majority however would consider themselves to be very normal indeed.

Home schooling - scary though it might be at first - is not as onerous as you might think and need not be expensive, particularly in comparison to the traditional Independent Sector.

Annual costs, even at the most expensive end, do not amount to even a terms fees at the cheapest of private schools.

You can educate your child on your own or with others. There are 'virtual' schools out there on the internet, along with correspondence type courses and a wide variety of structured or semi-structured approaches to help you.

Furthermore, there is nothing to prevent the establishment of informal groups of Home Educators (effectively creating a school in all but name) and, provided you go about it in a sensible fashion, you are free to create an environment to be proud of.

Contrary to what the teaching profession would like you to believe, teaching is not necessarily the perogative of an intellectual elite. Indeed when you look at some of the 'progressive' methods many teachers seem to regard as suitable to inflict on your children you might wonder whether the lunatics have taken over the asylum.

These days it requires little more than common sense and the ability to access the internet - which is where many school teachers get their classroom material from anyway.

Don't believe me? Take a look - for example, spend less than 10 minutes research. You will very probably locate your childs History lessons - Key Stage 2, 3 and even GCSE! No disrespect to History teachers - just a handy example.

The rest is merely the application of will power and perseverance.

The result you will end up with is a normal, bright and confident young adult - probably one with a significantly more rounded attitude to life than they would have gained at school.

Moreover they will develop and be familiar with a level of independant study that will be equip them superbly for University.

You and they will also have a huge amount of fun along with it!

The 'normal' reason against home education is that of the loss of social interaction.

I have found the opposite to be the case - our teenager actively communicates with people from all generations - in direct contrast to the school going peer group, many of whom find it difficult to maintain a conversation.

Toby, don't be frightened of home education.

Faced with the options available today, it could easily be the best decision you will ever make for your children!

Toby Young

Fergus -- moving to Whitstable sounds like a good fall-back position, but I still don't see why I should have to move to secure a decent state education for my children. It seems so defeatist. When faced with that alternative, the John Bull spirit comes out in me. I think, "No, I bloody well won't move. I'm going to stay where I am and if the state won't provide a decent school I'm going to start one myself and then force the state to pay for it." Unrealistic? Maybe -- depends how much skill and energy I can bring to the task.

Ian -- I'm completely with you on home schooling. I didn't have room to mention it in my piece -- and didn't want to muddy the waters -- but state support for home schools would be a central plank of my manifesto. Home schools, provided they meet certain basic standards, should be eligible for "free school" status under the new Tory policy, just as selective schools should. It's the sort of thing I might be able to get through as an amendment to the Conservative Government's Education Bill in 2011 if I was an Independent MP -- and, at a stroke, it would revolutionize how we educate children in this country. How many parents would send their child to the local sink comprehensive if they could home school them instead and receive, say, £6,500/child (which is what it costs to educate a child at a comprehensive) towards their costs? My guess is that half of Britain's state schools would go out of business overnight.

David Short

'How many parents would send their child to the local sink comprehensive if they could home school them instead and receive, say, £6,500/child (which is what it costs to educate a child at a comprehensive) towards their costs? My guess is that half of Britain's state schools would go out of business overnight.

Which is why it won't happen. Under any government.

Lydia P Troyer

"My guess is that half of Britain's state schools would go out of business overnight.

Which is why it won't happen. Under any government."

And the reason it won't ever, never, ever happen is precisely what??
Isn't that what the American air traffic controllers said in 1981 - the model of centrally located schools is a 19thC construct, no longer absolutely necessary and teacher's unions operate for the benefit of whom? No more than 5pct of the population should see the inside of an Oxbridge or red brick quad, except while carrying a broom or clean sheets, another 10pct could usefully be trained for the military & professions (after first understanding the difference between a profession and a trade, unlike your helpful burns doctor) and the rest can read books, watch TV & computer screens to prepare themselves for life, just like they do already, except points could be earned towards credentials which demonstrate actual ability and not points for a jolly good try.
Stop being a wuss, Tobe, make grammar schools, 2dry and 3ary moderns your focus, controlled by locally elected councillors - you know it's time. Bring back hanging for axe murderers, as well and reduce the EU back to what it's only ever been good for, a collection of customs and tariffs treaties!

Margaret LC

Hmmm... What would be the point of standing as an independent? The point would be to work for the electorate to the best of your ability, not just for what you could get out of it. And while you're there, you can lobby against the UK's stupid two-tier system of schools and against this lunatic testing of children every time they turn around.
Also, if people stopped using terms such as "local sink comprehensive" in a disparaging way local schools might start to regain their self esteem. There are some brilliant local state-run schools out there doing wonderful work, especially in smaller towns and areas where there is no private or grammar school competing for pupils. In order to attract the "best" pupils they feel obliged to spread fear and loathing about their comprehensive equivalents. Scrap the system and start again.

Laura

At last! Go for it Toby. I'm in the same area as you and am very seriously considering home education rather than have my son transfer to secondary school next year.

A separate issue is one of children with specific learning difficulties, for example dyslexia. On the one hand the govt. accepts this condition but on the other does not provide for children with this condition. In the private sector there are schools who cater for such children teaching using specialist teachers - the cost is prohibitive.

There is no state-funded option. The reality is that there is no suitable provision in school for such children (depending on the severity). Often they are given simpler/easier work when there is no question over their comprehension or intelligence and consequently never stretched.

The whole 'system' if you can call it such is a joke. We are the laughing stock of Europe with a workforce that has been seriously debilitated by inexperienced politicians eager to make a name for themselves.